The Center for Trait-Based Transformation

01/29/2026

What if we stopped seeing addiction as a moral failing and began understanding it as a survival response?

Often, addiction is a creative—though ultimately harmful—attempt by the nervous system to protect itself from pain. Like a child hiding under the covers from fear, people develop ways to feel safe. Those strategies may have helped at one point, even if they later caused harm.

This is why shame has no place in recovery. Sustainable healing isn’t built on judgment or willpower alone. It comes from curiosity about the pain beneath the behavior and from helping people recognize their inherent strengths and capacity for regulation, choice, and safety.

The Trait-Based Model of Recovery reframes how we support individuals impacted by addiction. We don’t treat people as problems to be fixed.

We recognize this truth:
You are not the problem. You are the solution.

You’re not broken.
You’re not failing.
You’re surviving.

And when we start from strength, real transformation becomes possible.

01/29/2026

For a long time, our field has been focused on what’s broken:
risk factors, deficits, disorders, failures.

Necessary, yes — but incomplete.

People don’t heal or grow because someone catalogs their wounds.
They heal when someone helps them recognize their capacity.

Trait-based work does something radical and deeply humane:
• Identity without pathology
• Language without shame
• Agency without pressure
• Strength without denial of pain

It says: you are not your worst moment.
You are a system of strengths that learned how to survive.

It’s time to do recovery and prevention differently — and start from strength.
Because when you know who you are,
you’ll know what to do.





www.startfromstrength.org

01/27/2026

Over the past few years, Trait-Based work has grown from a single recovery model into something much larger.

What’s becoming clear is this: we are moving beyond offering curriculum toward building full ecosystems for human development.

With Trait-Based Prevention and Recovery well established, and long-awaited leadership pathways now coming into view, we are beginning to support people across the full continuum. Early identity formation, recovery and reintegration, and leadership and workforce development are no longer separate conversations, but part of one coherent, strengths-based approach.

Academic and workforce partnerships currently taking shape are helping translate this work into certification, training, and professional development, while collaborators in education, justice, and community settings continue to anchor it in lived reality. When prevention, recovery, and leadership stop living in silos, systems begin to see people more clearly.

What we are building is not just programming. It is a way for schools, treatment centers, justice systems, and organizations to support growth, dignity, and connection without losing the humanity at the center.

I am deeply grateful for the partners stepping into this work with us, and energized by what is ahead.

01/26/2026

Prevention isn’t about telling youth what not to do.
It’s about teaching them what to do when life gets hard.

The Trait-Based Model of Prevention helps young people learn how to recognize, regulate, and navigate difficult emotions—not suppress them, not fear them, not act them out.

We teach youth:
• how to notice what they’re feeling
• how to understand why it’s happening
• how to respond instead of react
• how to return to a place of balance, clarity, and self-trust

Because emotions aren’t the enemy.
Unmanaged emotions are.

When young people know how to work with their inner world, they don’t need to escape it.

This is prevention that restores dignity.
Builds emotional intelligence.
And equips youth with skills they’ll use for a lifetime.

01/22/2026

At the Center for Trait-Based Transformation, we help people and organizations build from what’s strong— not what’s wrong.

Our work is:
• practical and accessible
• evidence-based and human-centered
• designed to restore dignity, agency, and strength
• adaptable across schools, recovery programs, workplaces, and community organizations
•inclusive by design, honoring diverse identities, lived experiences, and ways of being

Trait-based work gives people a shared language for self-awareness, resilience, leadership, and growth.

If you’re curious about how a trait-based approach could be implemented in your organization, We’d love to talk!

Reach out anytime.

www.startfromstrength.org

01/21/2026

The Trait-Based Transformation Models are built for real-world mental health settings.

Rooted in application.
Not staff-exhausting.
Not difficult to implement.

Our model is:

• Digital and easily accessible
• Fully packaged, “push-play” curriculum — ideal for short-staffed organizations
• Flexible and customizable to fit different schedules, populations, and levels of care
• Affordable — because access matters
• Backed by full customer service support

What truly sets it apart:

• Created by someone in recovery — lived experience matters!
• Science-backed and evidence-based — robust, clinically sound curriculum
• Empowering and dignity-restoring — we don’t fix people, we strengthen them
• Cross-cutting across mental healthcare — prevention, recovery, education, justice-involved, and community settings
• Easy to implement — without overhauls or burnout

At its core, Trait-Based Transformation is grounded in a simple truth:

When people understand who they are, they gain the power to choose what they need.

And dignity?
That’s not an add-on.
That’s the foundation.

01/19/2026

“If you can’t fly, then run.
If you can’t run, then walk.
If you can’t walk, then crawl.
But whatever you do, keep moving forward.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.

At the Center for Trait-Based Transformation, we honor Dr. King not just for his words, but for the inner traits that carried him forward: courage in the face of fear, self-leadership under pressure, empathy without erasure, and resilience rooted in purpose.

Transformation doesn’t happen all at once.
Justice doesn’t arrive fully formed.
Healing doesn’t move in straight lines.

Sometimes progress looks like flying.
Sometimes it looks like crawling.

What matters is that we keep moving — toward truth, toward dignity, toward one another.

Today, we recommit to the slow, brave work of becoming.
Individually. Collectively. Together.

01/13/2026

Central Kentucky parents and coaches, this is for you!

The Y.E.S. Program is now enrolling for a FREE after-school Youth Baseball + Softball program for ages 11–17 in Junction City.

This is not just practice and drills. Players will get top-tier skill development plus mentor-led Trait-Based growth that helps them build confidence, resilience, and a stronger mindset for life on and off the field.

Dates: February 10 – April 9
Spots: Only 70 total (first come, first served)

Register here:
https://forms.gle/HMCPJJR9wgUVj8wQ8

If you know a family with a kid who would thrive in this, please share this post.

Partners: Healing Families Together, The Back Stop, and The Center for Trait-Based Transformation

01/13/2026

The Trait-based Model of Recovery isn’t anti-anything. It’s pro-human.

Our modality isn’t positioned against 12-step or existing recovery pathways. In fact, it’s designed to complement them—by starting in a place that many people were never taught to look: their innate strengths.

The goals are familiar:
✔️ Abstinence or harm reduction
✔️ Improved quality of life
✔️ Emotional regulation
✔️ Meaningful connection
✔️ Sustainable change

What’s different is the entry point.

Rather than beginning with what’s broken, we begin with what’s already working—your natural wiring, traits, and capacities—and teach people how to use those strengths strategically in recovery, prevention, and personal growth.

This is empowerment, not permission.
Accountability, not avoidance.
Agency, not shame.

When people understand how they’re wired, they stop fighting themselves—and start building lives that actually fit.

Or said more simply:

Turn your wiring into your winning strategy.

Recovery doesn’t have to start with erasing who you are. It can start by harnessing it.

www.startfromstrength.org

Discover our evidence-based, trait-focused approach to addiction recovery. Personalized treatment, proven results. Start your transformation today.

01/12/2026

⚾️ BUILDING SKILLS FOR THE GAME — AND FOR LIFE! ⚾️

We’re excited to share an incredible FREE opportunity for youth in our community!

This program brings together top-notch baseball & softball training with the Trait-Based Model of Prevention, helping young people build not only athletic skills—but also confidence, self-awareness, resilience, and character.

Program details:
✔️ For Kentucky youth ages 11–17
✔️ Held at The Back Stop sports complex in Junction City
✔️ Professional coaching in baseball/softball skills
✔️ Trait-Based Prevention curriculum focused on life skills
✔️ No cost to participate
✔️ Classes run February 10 – April 9

💡 Space is limited, so early sign-up is encouraged!

How to apply:
📧 Email Nick Rhodus at nrhodus@atr1.org
or
📧 Jeff Bragg at jbragg@thebackstopbaseball.com

This is an amazing chance for young athletes to grow on and off the field. Please help us spread the word to families who could benefit!

01/11/2026

What makes the Trait-Based Model different?

We don’t just teach about emotional regulation, we teach people how to regulate in REAL time.

Participants learn:
• Evidence-based breathwork to calm the nervous system
• Grounding techniques to reduce stress and emotional reactivity
• Mindfulness practices that build awareness and self-control
• Scientifically supported tools for working through triggers

This shifts learning from theory to practical skill-building.

When stress rises, participants know what to do. When emotions escalate, they have real tools! When old patterns surface, they can pause, regulate, and respond intentionally.

That’s what makes Trait-Based work more than a standard curriculum.
It’s experiential, embodied, and grounded in neuroscience — not compliance or willpower.

When people learn to regulate their nervous systems, everything else becomes possible: learning, connection, accountability, and growth.

01/08/2026

The future of prevention and recovery won’t be built on fear, labels, or punishment.

It will be built on strength, self-awareness, and skill.

This year, The Center for Trait-Based Transformation is inviting schools and organizations who are ready for results — not just compliance — to step into a new way of doing the work.

If you’re ready to see change that actually lasts, we should talk.

New year.
New framework.
Better outcomes.

Discover our evidence-based, trait-focused approach to addiction recovery. Personalized treatment, proven results. Start your transformation today.